Chapter 136: Chaos in the Base (3)
The orderlies were spending the time in their own ways. The communications chief designated as the orderly officer for today was immersed in his mobile game.
“Shit! A critical hit there of all times?!”
He sighed in disappointment. The orderlies were curious about what game he was playing. Just then, Choi Da-Hyeong ran into the orderly room while panting.
“Nam-Woo!”
He was looking for Sergeant Jin Nam-Woo. The communications chief frowned at the sight of Da-Hyeong.
“How dare you barge into the orderly room without naming yourself, Choi Da-Hyeong?”
He would usually let such things slide, but he was not in a very good mood right now because of his game. Da-Hyeong was fairly quick-witted; he sensed that the communications chief was in a bad mood and immediately saluted him.
“Sir! Sergeant Choi Da-Hyeong has come to the orderly room for business.”
“Why did you come all the way back up here?” the communications chief asked.
He was curious about why Da-Hyeong, who had been dying to meet Seo Yi-Jun’s sister and her friend, had suddenly come all the way up to the orderly room.
Da-Hyeong’s excitement had not yet died down. He asked, “Communications Chief, could you send a few soldiers down to the visiting room?”
“Why?”
“Yi-Jun’s sister’s friend brought some pizza and fried chicken for us to share.”
The communications chief laughed in exasperation.
“Don’t you know food from outside is restricted?”
“The watch commander permitted it, sir.”
“The watch commander? Wait... Isn’t it the second company commander’s turn today?”
“That’s right, sir.”
The communications chief couldn’t believe that the second company commander, who was known to be fastidious and have the worst personality out of the company commanders, had allowed such a thing.
“You’re not screwing with me, are you?”
The first thing he doubted was Da-Hyeong, who might be lying because he was blinded by good food.
Da-Hyeong felt wronged and responded, “Then check for yourself by calling the command control center, sir.”
“You think I won’t?”
The communications chief was a doubtful person. He texted an officer that he knew in the headquarters company on his smartphone. The officer replied shortly after, and the communications chief’s eyes popped out after seeing it.
“Hey, Da-Hyeong.”
“Yes, sir?”
“Is it true that Miss Kang Ra-Eun is at our base right now?”
The eyes of every soldier in the orderly room, including Jin Nam-Woo, popped out at the mention of Kang Ra-Eun.
Da-Hyeong answered while nodding, “Yes. She’s the one who brought the food.”
The entire base fell into chaos from the appearance of a top star.
***
Ra-Eun and Seo Yi-Seo were on their way to the barracks that Yi-Jun lived in, guided by the soldiers. Ra-Eun held in her admiration while looking around the base.
‘Damn, Yi-Jun. You’ve been deployed to such a nice base.’
She could only see brand-new things everywhere she looked.
‘The base that I was deployed to was falling apart.’
Because of this, Ra-Eun had to suffer through hell until she transferred to a different base with the first sergeant. The base had been so old that she was forced to partake in numerous repairs of pipes, stairs, and many other things.
Compared to that, Yi-Jun had been deployed to a blessed base. However, that did not mean he was living the life; the army was still the army.
‘I’m sure it’s still fucking hell.’
As they were getting closer and closer to the barracks, Ra-Eun could hear Yi-Seo quietly admiring the place.
She asked Yi-Seo, “You’ve never checked out the barracks?”
“Yeah. I only got to see Yi-Jun in the visiting room last time.”
It made sense, since civilians usually weren’t allowed to come all the way to the barracks.
“I get to look around where Yi-Jun spends his days thanks to you, Ra-Eun,” Yi-Seo remarked.
“It’s nothing much.”
Such a thing was simple if the watch commander was properly made use of. It was only possible for Ra-Eun, who knew exactly how the army worked.
The soldiers entered the barracks building with the food and drinks that Ra-Eun and Yi-Seo had brought. The communications chief and Nam-Woo, who had been waiting for them outside, saluted the watch commander.
“Sir!”
“At ease. Miss Kang Ra-Eun visited our base and wanted to take a look at the barracks, so I brought her here. It won’t take long.”
“Understood, sir. Shall I be her guide?”
“No, I’ll do that myself.”
Only then would the watch commander be able to be with Ra-Eun for longer. Meanwhile, Sergeant Jin Nam-Woo couldn’t believe his eyes. Before the visit, he had thought Yi-Jun had played his older sister up to be a beauty to be pampered by his superiors, but that had not been the case at all.
Yi-Seo was fairly beautiful herself, but that was not the issue. No one could have expected the woman whom Yi-Jun had simply mentioned as his sister’s friend was the top star Kang Ra-Eun.
Yi-Jun felt boastful. He then said to Nam-Woo, “Sergeant Jin. I was telling the truth.”
“...”
Nam-Woo couldn’t say a word. He couldn’t dare say anything when the person that his junior had brought was the famous Kang Ra-Eun. Ra-Eun sensed the weird air between the two.
She approached Yi-Jun and asked, “Who’s this, Yi-Jun? Is he a superior from your platoon?”
“No, we’re not in the same platoon.”
“I see. Please take good care of Yi-Jun, Sergeant Jin.”
Nam-Woo answered that he would with a flustered smile.
Ra-Eun whispered to Yi-Jun as soon as they entered the barracks, “Is that him?”
“Pardon? What do you mean?” Yi-Jun asked.
“The one who’s been bullying you. I can more or less tell.”
Ra-Eun’s wits were out of this world. She could immediately tell that the two men weren’t on good terms just from the way they looked at each other. That was why he had asked Nam-Woo to take good care of Yi-Jun to boost Yi-Jun’s morale.
Yi-Jun lightly laughed at Ra-Eun’s guess.
“As expected of you, noona. I’m so glad I was able to get him real good thanks to you.”
“I told you, you can leave it to me.”
Yi-Jun had a strong feeling that he could kick up his feet just for today.
***
The base was in an uproar like no other day from the news that Kang Ra-Eun had visited the base. She took pictures with the soldiers and held a simple fan meeting. She then lastly emphasized to everyone once more to take good care of Yi-Jun and went back down to the visiting room.
Before sending Ra-Eun and Yi-Seo off, Yi-Jun said as if he was making a pledge, “Once I complete my service, I’ll go to see you like I had always done back in the days before my enlistment.”
“Sure, but don’t come in your military uniform. It makes me dizzy just looking at it.”
“Why do you hate military uniforms so much when you don’t even need to go to the army, noona?”
Yi-Jun didn’t know Ra-Eun was an active-duty university girl. It was no wonder why Ra-Eun hated military uniforms so much, when she had been discharged after experiencing cold weather training twice, guerilla training twice, and literally everything else that the army had to offer.
Ra-Eun narrowed her eyes at Yi-Jun. “I just do.”
Yi-Jun chuckled and said he understood. He then turned to Yi-Seo, “You take care too, sis.”
“Call home often. Mom and Dad have been worried sick about you.”
“Got it. I’ll be going on another leave next month, so I’ll call once the date is set.”
Yi-Jun liked Ra-Eun, but his family was also very precious to him. He said everything that he wanted to say, and stayed where he was right up until the car that Ra-Eun and Yi-Seo were in disappeared from sight.
Yi-Jun went back to Da-Hyeong, who had been waiting for him, and returned back to the barracks. He was treated like a hero who had triumphantly returned after taking down the demon lord. Some of them were even chanting his name. Yi-Jun smiled awkwardly. They were not acting this way just because they were able to eat pizza and fried chicken thanks to him.
“Thank you so much, Yi-Jun. My life’s wish was to see Miss Kang Ra-Eun in person. I never expected it to be fulfilled during my military service.”
“Jesus, I thought I was gonna pass out just from looking at her. How can a person’s head be so small? She’s tall, has slender legs, and every single strand of her hair was a work of art.”
“I just came back from bragging to my friends that I got to meet Kang Ra-Eun in person. I told them I got to meet her because I had such a wonderful junior.”
The company soldiers praised Yi-Jun to no end. Yi-Jun had expected them to act passionately, but he had never expected them to love it this much.
Yang Su-Gon, the highest-ranking sergeant of their squad, said while wrapping his arm around Yi-Jun’s shoulders, “None of you even think about bullying Yi-Jun. After all, Miss Kang Ra-Eun asked me to ‘take good care of Yi-Jun.’ Got it, you pieces of shits?”
“No, she said that to me, Sergeant Yang!”
“What are you talking about, Sergeant Kim?! I’m the squad leader, so I should obviously be the one to take care of Yi-Jun!”
People were fighting to take good care of Yi-Jun.
Just then, the communications chief exclaimed, “What the hell’s with all this commotion?!”
The soldiers tread carefully, thinking that they had irritated the communications chief. However, the communications chief’s face changed completely. He approached Yi-Jun with soaring corners of his mouth.
“I myself will take very good care of Yi-Jun. Don’t even listen to those guys who’ll be discharged soon. You just let me know if there’s anything you need during your service, and I will take care of it all for you.”
“Thank you very much, sir,” Yi-Jun replied.
He had never expected to enjoy such benefits thanks to Ra-Eun. He had once again come to realize the power of celebrities. Meanwhile, there was only one person with a frown among the wave of people. It was Jin Nam-Woo.
Having the support of sergeants who had little time left in the army was no big deal, but support from a military officer was a huge deal. It meant that he could no longer bully Yi-Jun like he always had. If the communications chief caught word of him doing so, the rest of his military service would become a living hell simply for bullying a junior. Hence, it was best to just let it go in such a situation.
Yi-Jun momentarily met eyes with Nam-Woo, and couldn’t help but smile. It was his victory for having a pretty older sister, and an even prettier and famous celebrity noona.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l